1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to layout of electric components mounted on an electric vehicle including a high voltage battery and a low voltage battery.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electric motorcycles including electric motors as power sources are being developed. An electric motorcycle includes a high voltage battery for supplying power to an electric motor and a low voltage battery for supplying power to electric components such as lamps, an indicator, a controller, or the like. In the vehicle disclosed in WO2013/061484, power from the high voltage battery is supplied to and charges the low voltage battery via a converter for decreasing the voltage of the power from the high voltage battery. In the vehicle disclosed in WO2013/061484, the converter is located in the battery case housing the high voltage battery so that the length of a high voltage line that connects the high voltage battery and the converter is reduced.
The converter is connected with the high voltage line connected to the high voltage battery. Accordingly, a restriction against access by users to the converter is desired. In a vehicle having a high voltage battery that is charged while being mounted on the vehicle body, users need not open the battery case in normal use of the vehicle. Therefore, in such a vehicle, the arrangement in which the converter is located in the battery case as described in WO2013/061484 can prevent users from accessing to the converter. Meanwhile, in a vehicle having a high voltage battery that is charged in a state where the battery is demounted from the vehicle body, the arrangement in which the converter is located in the battery case allows users to access to the converter when they open the battery case to demount the high voltage battery from the battery case. Regarding this problem, a structure in which the converter is contained in a dedicated case can prevent users from accessing to the converter. Such a structure, however, results in increase in the number of components, which may hinder achievement of a compact vehicle body.